Book Title: Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 5
Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

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Page 407
________________ 376 CHAPTER TWO resembled unexpected nectar. After enlightening many souls capable of emancipation, the Blessed One went elsewhere. King Suvarnabāhu went to his own house. The king recalled again and again the gods who had come to the Tirthakệt's sermon, “ Where have I seen them before?” and reached remembrance of former births by using üha and apoha. Seeing his former births, he reflected: “To me striving for human birth, there is no end to existence by that (human birth). One, who has attained the state of a god, delights in mortal state. What bewilderment is this..of the soul whose nature is hidden by karma? A creature goes to heaven, the world of mortals, an animal birth, and hell, lost from the road to emancipation, like a traveter on different roads. Therefore, I shall strive especially for the road to emancipation only. The wealth of self-reliance is the root of every purpose.” • After making this decision, King Svarṇabāhu installed his son on the throne. At that time the Lord Jina, the Lord of the World, came in his wandering. Vajrabāhu's son went to the Tīrthanātha's presence and became a mendicant. Practicing severe penance, he finished his studies in time: By means of some of the sthānas, devotion to the Arhats, et cetera, being practiced, he, intelligent, gradually acquired the bodymaking karma of a Tīrthakệt. One time in his wandering he went to a great forest, Kșiravana, terrifying from various wild animals, near Mt. Kșīra. There, facing the sun, like another sun in brilliance, he continued practicing penance, maintaining firm statuesque posture. Eighth incarnation of Kamatha (304–308) Kurangaka; risen from hell, became a lion on that mountain and by chance came there in his roaming. Hungry because he had not obtained food the day before, he, resembling Death, saw the great sage from a distance. Angry from hostility of former births, the lion ran forward, his mouth wide open, splitting open the earth, as it were, with blows of his tail. The lion with ears erect, filling the caverns with loud Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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